THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 2-15-04: DOMAINS; A Film Buff's Town House

Workout: I do Pilates. I actually trained with Joseph Pilates himself and his wife, Clara. This was in the mid-1960's, and it was a thing for dancers then. When Joe died, a group of us bought his gym for his widow. I still do Pilates downstairs, all the mat work. I don't need an instructor. I could teach it myself. Not that I look thin these days. I sit too much and eat too much.

Favorite household chore: I do very few things in the world well, but one of the things I do well is frame and hang pictures. I am most fastidious about my pictures. I go around straightening them all day.

Pre-show ritual: We shoot on Monday nights. I will already have done two weeks' research. Then Friday morning through Monday afternoon I am incommunicado. My wife and I will dine and talk, but those four days are sacrosanct. I am in my study preparing my questions. I print out my blue cards at around 4 on Monday afternoon.

Post-show ritual: Often the guest and I have dinner afterward. I don't eat before the show. We go to Elaine's, and we eat and talk until 1 or 2 in the morning. We did it with Harrison Ford and Mike Myers; Charlize Theron and her mother; and John Travolta.

Luxury he can't live without: Our home in Bridgehampton, without question. It is my oasis, my salvation.

Car: A Mercedes S.U.V. I love that car. I'm not a P.C. person. I sit there royally in my S.U.V. and never think about the gas consumption.

Oscar-night plan: I'm going to the Vanity Fair party in L.A. I went last year. If you are not nominated, and obviously I am not, the worst thing in the world to have to sit through is an awards ceremony. So I watched it at the party.

Biggest shock of his life: I wrote the book and lyrics for a musical called ''Sherry,'' which opened and closed in 1967. In the aftermath, the orchestrations disappeared, but they turned up in the Library of Congress in 2000. On Feb. 24, Angel Records is bringing out an album of the show with Nathan Lane, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune and Mike Myers.

Collection: Everything having to do with whales and whaling. Not contemporary whaling, of course, but old whaling, when they used to go out in boats with harpoons. I read ''Moby-Dick'' as a child and became entranced by it. I am very attracted to the story of Ahab's obsession with the white whale. I like commitment.

Question he's asked most often at cocktail parties: A question I will never answer -- ''Who was your favorite guest?'' -- because I am not about to tick off the 161 other people who have been on the show. Then the next is another I will never answer, ''Who was your least favorite guest?'' Then they ask me questions from the questionnaire I ask at the end of each show.

Always in the fridge: Slim Fasts and caffeine-free Diet Coke and always Chinese food. It is the only cuisine I know anything about.

Favorite object in the house: My wife, Kedakai Lipton. Well, she's not an object, but she is the heart and soul of this house. This doll is a portrait of her. She's so beautiful. She's half-Japanese and half-Irish. She was a model.

Favorite movie: Chaplin's films and all the films of Ingmar Bergman. For sheer romantic enjoyment ''Casablanca.''

Favorite sport: Hockey. I used to have seats in Madison Square Garden right behind the Rangers' bench. I love a defensive game, which is why I dislike basketball.

Best place to see movies: I used to insist that the only way to see a movie, especially a comedy, was with the general public. But now audiences have been so spoiled by television that they sit there and talk. So I depend more and more on press screenings.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Person he'd most like to interview but hasn't: I used to say Marlon Brando, but I've given up on that.

What he wanted to be when he was 5 years old: You may not believe me, but I could read when I was 1 1/2. My father was the poet Lawrence Lipton; he taught me. When I was 3, I was writing epic poetry, horrible, terrible stuff. So I wanted to be a writer. But then my father, who was a famous eccentric, left us, and I decided I wanted to be a lawyer.

Last book he read: When you are working seven days a week, you don't have time to read. But out at the country, I am halfway through a biography of the poet Rimbaud. He is one of my heroes.

His last meal would be: A great cheeseburger. I have very plebeian tastes. I still have never tasted caviar or escargot.

Hobbies: I used to do show jumping on horses, and I am a pilot. The great virtue of those two pursuits is that you may not think of anything else, or you may die. I just feel bored if I don't have that risk around. I am not saying I am brave. I am not. But I enjoy the challenge.

Favorite souvenirs from the show: After people appear on my show, many of them send me letters. The guest and I are onstage together for five hours, and during those five hours something happens. It is like people who have been in combat together. This is a new one from Tom Cruise.

Why he uses blue index cards: Because white glares on television; it's the same reason I always wear blue or black shirts.

Latest gadget: A hand-held Magellan Global Positioning System for flying. It saved my life once on a moonless night flying to the Hamptons from New York over water. The electrics in my plane went out, and I used my Magellan to find the airport and land.

What he keeps by the bed: My alarm clock, the thermostat for the electric blanket and a few sound machines -- I like white noise when I sleep.

The Lipton Questionnaire

Favorite word: Honor.

Least favorite word: Terror -- a useless act and useless emotion.

What turns you on: Words.

What turns you off: The humiliation of others, especially children.

A sound you love: Silence.

A sound you hate: The din that passes for fun in most public places.

Favorite curse: ''Jesus Christ.''

Profession, other than your own, you most want to practice: Ballet dancer.

Profession you would not want to practice: Executioner.

What you want God to tell you at the pearly gates: ''You see, Jim, you were wrong. I do exist.